The Wellington Sevens team bowed out at the semi-final stage of the Central Coast 7s tournament on finals day today, after causing one of the shocks of the day by beating powerful Fijian side, tournament defending champions and World Club Sevens champions Daveta in their quarterfinal match-up. Wellington went into the second day’s play as second placed qualifiers from their pool and were up against pool winners Daveta who had cruised to victory in all three of their matches on Saturday. But they prevailed 12-7, with Roy Kinikinilau scoring the winning try in the corner with the last play of the game...More

UPDATED: The New Zealand Development and Wellington sides are both through to the Men’s Cup quarterfinals of the UON Central Coast 7s tournament after finishing first and second respectively in their pools today. The New Zealand Development side topped their pool with wins over Fijian side Yamacia (17-0), the Australian Development team (10-7) and Brisbane club team Sunnybank (31-5). Wellington finished second in their pool, after beating the Canadian Maple Leafs (29-14) and Sydney club side Manly (33-12), before missing out to Fijian team Tabadamu (14-28) in their final match of the day...More

Naenae College will once again play host to the Wellington Regional Condor 7’s Qualifying Tournament this coming Labour Day Monday. At stake are three places in the national Condors tournament in early December at Kelston Boys’ High in Auckland – two places in the 24-team Boys competition and one in the 16-team Girls event. Last year Wellington’s three qualifiers performed with distinction; Scots College were runners-up for the second year in succession, losing out to Rotorua Boys’ High School in the final, while St Patricks College, Silverstream and Wellington East Girls College both made it to the Cup rounds where they lost their respective quarter-finals before both winning their last two matches to wind up 5th overall...More

Above: Vaea Fifita, playing in his first ITM Cup final tomorrow night, against the Hawke's Bay Magpies. Outgoing lock Jeremy Thrush and fullback Cory Jane are the last two current Lions players to have held a trophy aloft for Wellington. The pair are survivors of the Lions side that lifted the Ranfurly Shield off Auckland in 2008. It’s coming up on a generation since the Lions last tasted success in the NPC, beating Canterbury to win the Division 1 title in 2000 in the year that Westpac Stadium opened its doors...More

UPDATE: Contrary to what we stated below, the time difference between NZ and NSW is 2 hours. Wellington's games are thus against the  Canadian Maple Leafs at 1.00pm (NZT), Manly at 3.40pm (NZT) and Tabadamu at 6.40pm (NZT). Above: Three new players in the Wellington Sevens teams for their first tournament of the summer this weekend, from left Lester Maulolo, Telea Seumanutafa and Joseph Scheres.  Last year as defending national provincial champions, Wellington crossed the Tasman to finish second in the Central Coast Sevens tournament, just north of Sydney...More

Above: Wellingtons Joanah Ngan-Woo and Auckland's Eloise Blackwell contest a lineout in their Women's NPC final. PHOTO BY DAVE LINTOTT. The Auckland Storm are the 2015 Women’s NPC champions, beating the Wellington Pride 39-9 in this afternoon’s final at McLean Park in Napier. The Auckland Storm won their 16th straight WNPC title with a runaway seven tries to nil win, centre Theresa Fitzpatrick scoring a hat-trick and left wing Mele Hufanga scoring one to set a men’s and women’s NPC record of 16 tries in the season...More

The Women’s NPC trophy takes pride of place in Auckland Rugby’s trophy cabinet. Once a year it comes out for a polish and airing on the sideline of the Women’s NPC final, before being popped back behind the glass for another twelve months. The Auckland Storm is the most successful representative team in New Zealand over the past 20 years and tomorrow they meet the Wellington Pride in the 2015 WNPC final on neutral territory at Napier’s McLean Park kick-off 12.00pm.  The Auckland WNPC team’s record is impressive...More

The start of the secondary schools Sevens competition rugby season is this Saturday with the second annual Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council Secondary Schools 7s in Palmerston North and three zone tournaments in Wellington, Porirua and the Hutt Valley. The Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council School 7s is being played at the Rugby Institute at Massey University and features 15 teams from 12 schools. It is the final event in the 2015 representative programme run by the Hurricanes Youth Rugby Council. In 2015, the Council has organised 38 provincial union age-group representative fixtures, with over 600 players nearly 50 schools taking part and spanning the U16 to U20 groups This year, the 7s Tournament is being held well before the pressure of NCEA exams comes into focus for many players...More

While celebrating Jubilee Cup success with Hutt Old Boy Marist in 2014 (pictured above playing in the final against Wainuiomata) Jeremy Thrush lost his house keys. They were eventually discovered on locking partner Steven Bradshaw’s son's trampoline. At the conclusion of the ITM Cup Thrush will jump offshore and commence a three-year deal with Gloucester. He will join fellow Kiwis John Afoa, Willie Heinz and Tom Marshall at the English club. 200-game HOBM Eagles teammate Nick Risdon shares the value of Thrush...More

Above: Four of the Wellington Premier clubs' award winners for 2015. OBU's Premier Player of the Year Mitch Clarke (left), Ories' Back of the Year Aukuso Tuitama (right) and Tawa's MVP TJ Fermanis and MSP's Sportsman of the Year Issac O'Connor remonstrating with the referee in their Jubilee Cup semi-final (centre). The curtain has all but come down on the fifteen-a-side club and representative rugby season for another year. Just the Wellington Lions, playing in a semi-final against Otago, and the Wellington Pride, contesting the Women’s NPC final with Auckland, are in action this coming Saturday...More